Transition to Every Student Succeeds Act

In 2016, under the historic AP Test Fee program, participating states contributed $38 in federal funding toward each AP Exam taken by a low-income student, reducing the typical AP Exam fee paid by their low-income students to just $15. Some states supplemented the federal funding with their own state funding to further reduce the AP Exam fee for low-income students.

Beginning with the 2017 AP Exam administration, states will no longer be able to secure funding for low-income students’ AP Exams through the federal AP Test Fee program. Under the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the historic Federal program was eliminated. ESSA consolidated approximately 49 programs, including the AP Test Fee program, into a new Title IV “block grant.”

This year, states and districts MUST ACT to ensure funds remain available for their low-income students. If your school has previously received funding through the AP Test Fee program, talk to your principal and/or administration to ensure that a plan is in place to obtain funding with ESSA. Visit collegeboard.org/ap-essa for more information.

For those states that continue to provide funding for students’ AP Exams, state-specific fee reduction information will be posted here in spring 2017.